A major problem in hospitals and nursing facilities, where pills are dispensed on a regular basis, is that pills are brought manually by a medical person to a patient who then manually takes them for swallowing. Unfortunately, many patients receiving medication are groggy, shaky or infirm. During the handling of the pills, the patient may drop the pills, which will result in their becoming contaminated or even lost.
Another serious problem in hospitals, and in general, is with the control of the distribution of narcotic pain killers, where patients are known to palm the same in order to transfer and/or sell the pill to an unauthorized user.
It is an object of the present invention to obviate these and other associated problems by providing a receptacle for containing and dispensing solid medicinal pilis wherein said receptacle is provided with dispensing means provided with a sealable dispensing closure, wherein displacement of the closure from its sealed position, to enable the dispensing of a pill, is actuated by the mouth of the user.
Since the unique receptacle of the present invention is designed to specifically and only dispense one or more pills directly into the mouth of the designated patient there is no danger that a patient who is groggy, shaky or infirm will drop the pill(s) and much less danger of transfer and/or sale of a pill to an unauthorized user once it has been in the mouth of the designated patient.
There exist prior art devices for containing and dispensing solid medicinal pills, however, they all have difficulties or drawbacks associated with them.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,259,531 to Bennett discloses a container for storing and dispensing pills which dispenses individual pills by manually operating a lever. The container employs a hollow vertical cylinder having an upper region for receiving pills and a lower region from which pills are dispensed. The lower region has a first opening in its lower end which is adapted to pass a pill therethrough and has at least one second opening in its side wall. In use, it is first necessary to fill the upper region with pills to be dispensed. The container is then tapped gently or subjected to similar movements, and one of the pills in the upper region will be moved into engagement with a section which is connected to a lever. When the lever is in its first position, the section is placed under the third opening in order to receive any pill delivered through the third opening thereto. When the lever is in its second position, the section is placed above the first opening in order to deliver any pill previously received by the section to the first opening for discharge therethrough.
Bennett's container is manually operable which requires the user to remove the pill therefrom and transfer it to his mouth via his hand. Thus, a groggy, shaky or infirm user may drop, contaminate and even lose the pill, as described herein above.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,402,425 to von Schukmann discloses a tablet dispensing container having a spring-loaded slide pushbutton operated to release one tablet and bottom projection to hold back others. The container for the dispensing of individual tablets one by one comprises a tablet drop-out opening provided in the wall of the container below a storage chamber, a spring-loaded slide traveling in front of the region of the opening and releasing in each case one of the tablets so that it can drop out, the slide having associated with it a division finger which, in the depressed position of the slide which is continued towards the outside by an actuating button, blocks the path between the bottom opening of the storage chamber and the tablet drop-out opening.
Similar to the drawback associated with Bennet's container, the container of von Schukmann is not intended for the user to distribute the pills directly into his mouth, rather into his hand, thereby potentially resulting in contamination or loss of the pill prior to ingestion.
Additional prior art documents that describe devices for dispensing solid medicaments such as pills, tablets and the like include: U.S. Pat. No. 5,657,901, FR 2,637,266, US 2007/114239, U.S. Pat. No. 4,354,619, US 2004/124204, U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,147,130, 5,850,919, 5,018,644, 4,653,668, 4,744,492, 4,784,291 and 6,131,765. However, none the above patent documents solve the problems associated with pill dispensers as described herein above.
JP 2008110158 to Ilzuka discloses an inhalation-type medicine delivery device that has a body having a storage chamber storing the capsule filled with a medicine, a piercing means to make a hole in the capsule arranged in the storage chamber of the body, and a mouthpiece to inhale the medicine of the pierced capsule through a discharge route connected with the storage chamber. The body is composed of a cylindrical member having openings in two positions. The mouthpiece is provided in one opening Id of the cylindrical member and a lid member openably connected with the cylindrical member through a connecting portion such as a pivot or a hinge and opening the inlet of the storage chamber to load the capsule in an open state is provided in the other opening le of the cylindrical member. A check valve permitting outside air to be conducted into the body only during aspiration by the mouthpiece is arranged in the lid member.
Ilzuka's device allows the user to avoid manual handling of the pill, however it is a complex design, which adds to the cost of manufacturing as well as the sale price. Furthermore said device is, like many inhalators, designed to deliver a fine powder from the capsule and not the capsule itself.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a receptacle for containing and dispensing solid medicinal pills, that overcomes the difficulties and drawbacks associated with the prior art as described in part herein above.
Additionally, it is an object of the present invention to provide a receptacle for containing and dispensing solid medicinal pills in hospitals and nursing facilities as well as at home.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a receptacle for containing and dispensing solid medicinal pills, one or more at a time, whenever used in conjunction with an automated medication dispenser of the type enabling the controlled sequential delivery of a regimen of pills on an as-needed basis.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a receptacle for containing and dispensing solid medicinal pills that prevents contamination or loss of the drug prior to reaching the patient.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a receptacle for containing and dispensing solid medicinal pills that is easy and inexpensive to manufacture, and simple to use.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.